LB's Rambles

Atlas Shrugs...Stretches, and Speaks

"Why yes, Mocha and I are quite comfortable, thank you for asking. Sofas are extremely comfortable. Perhaps you should get another one so that you too could have a place to stretch out as we do."

Atlas: Surf's Up

We interrupt this blog for a moment to bring you some canine news from my grand-dog, Atlas, and friends.

Atlas, as a California dog, loves the beach. So my daughter, her roommate, and my daughter's boyfriend took Atlas (on the right), and his friends Mocha (center) and Brutus (left) to the beach.  Behold as they get their first glimpse of the ocean. We are told that a good time was had by all. The sand may eventually get cleaned out of the back of the wagon.

Basset Blogging

This is Brutus.

Brutus is my California daughter’s boy friend’s dog. Despite the mournful face, Brutus appears to be a happy, more-or-less well-adjusted dog. He is a good friend of my daughter’s chocolate lab, Atlas, whose picture was seen here in an earlier posting. He is a dog of deeply-held convictions regarding proprietorship of most of the fence posts at the neighborhood dog park. He is also quite friendly with many of the other dogs who visit the park. He welcomes head pats, some scratching behind those long ears, and belly rubs. This picture was taken on our recent visit.

Equal Time

Having wished Atlas a Happy Birthday below, I have been reminded rather forcefully that we have two grandcats as well as a granddog. The grandcats belong to Other Daughter and Son-in-Law.

This is Osiris. Osiris is large, and has stripes as well as an identifying orange patch on her tail. You see her here in the process of playing with a ball on a string. Or, perhaps more accurately, in wondering why this person is dangling that irritating object in front of my face; I must now consider bashing it with my ferocious claws and showing it where it belongs.

The second cat is her sister, Isis, who has quite clearly (and properly) decided that the only appropriate way to handle these dangling articles is to lie flat on her back, so that she can more readily manipulate this irritating object with her paws.

The astute reader/observer will have noted that both these cats are, er, to be polite, inordinately large. That is correct. In fact, my daughter and son-in-law note that they have not seen their landlord in more than a year now; the cats' sudden weight gain may have taken place around the time the landlord disappeared. Isis and Osiris aren't saying, but they do look rather smug...

Second Birthday!

My wife and I will be going out to California in two weeks for a belated second birthday party for Atlas.

This is Atlas.   He's a good-natured Chocolate Lab, and he's practically big enough for my daughter to ride to work, if she wanted to. We're proud of our grand-dog, and we have a variety of birthday presents. That may not endear us to my daughter, but, hey, you can't please everyone.